Two model totem poles flank a bentwood box sitting on a pedestal in front of a bookcase in the office of W.E. Collison. Handwritten annotation in pen on verso reads: “Totem & carved chest in Dad’s office.”
Series consists of images pertaining the Collison family, North Coastal First Nations communities, means of transportation along North Coastal British Columbia, and various church structures and religious events.
This unpublished manuscript, authored by W.H. Collison and handwritten by Joyce Collison, comprises 29 identifiable chapters. Content of this manuscript appears to be focused upon the retelling of First Nations stories. The donor identified that this manuscript was intended for publication but was never completed.
Series consists of journals, draft manuscripts, correspondence, CMS documents and orders, speeches, sermons all written by or to Archdeacon W. H. Collison. Series also contains correspondence to W.E. Collison and Joyce Collison, genealogical information on the Collison family, newspaper clippings and a school paper written by Archdeacon Collison's grandaughter Katy.
Series contains publications on the following subjects: linguistics, First Nations studies, anthropology, museum studies, the Missionary Society of the Church of England, the Metlakatla Inquiry, material culture and Canadian geography. It is believed that items published prior to 1922 had been collected by the Archdeacon W.H. Collison, while those published post 1922 (the year W.H. Collison passed away) were collected by both his son W.E. Collison and then his grandaughter Joyce Collison.
Indian Notes and Monographs (2 editions):
Totem Poles of the Gitksan, Upper Skeena River, British Columbia. Bulletin No. 61, Anthropological Series No. 12. Marius Barbeau. Ottawa: Department of Mines, 1929.
The Indian Background of Canadian History. Bulletin No. 86, Anthropological Series No. 21. Diamond Jenness. Ottawa: Department of Mines and Resources, 1937.
The Washington Archaeologist Vol. III, No. 12, December 1959 (newsletter)
Museum Notes (3 editions):
Journal of The Royal Society of Arts, Vol. LXXXIII, No. 4320, 6 September 1935. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1935.
Haida Totems in Wood and Argillite. S.W.A. Gunn. Vancouver: J.J. Douglas, 1967.
"The Haidas of British Columbia" - Chapter IX from an unidentified book, pages 221-263. (ca. 1933)
"Asiatic Survivals in Indian Songs" Dr. Marius Barbeau. Reprinted from The Scientific Monthly, April 1942, Vol. LIV, pages 303-307. Signed by author, gift to Rev. Collison.
Totem Lore. W. Nicholson. (souvenir pamphlet, ca. 1950)
The Modern Growth of the Totem Pole on the Northwest Coast. Marius Barbeau. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1940. Signed by author, gift to W.E. Collison.
American Anthropologist, Vol. 31, No. 1. January-March 1929. Menasha, Wis.: American Anthropological Association, 1929.
Report of the Provincial Museum of Natural History for the Year 1930. Province of British Columbia. Victoria: 1931.
Canadian Geographic Journal, Vol. VII., No. 5. Montreal: The Canadian Geographical Society, May 1934.
The Pacific Salmon. John Pease Babcock. Victoria: The Province of British Columbia, Provincial Fisheries Dept., 1931.
Metlakatlah Inquiry 1884: Report of the Commissioners, together with evidence. British Columbia. Victoria: Government Printing Office, 1885. Handwritten annotation in pencil on book cover: "To be returned to Matt B. Begbie"
The Sailor - Bishop, or The Life of Bishop William Ridley. Church Missionary Society. 1913.
"The Indians of Northern British Columbia" J. H. Keen. Chapter taken from an unidentified book, pages 409-414
A Cruise Among Haida and Tlingit Villages About Dixon's Entrance. George A. Dorsey. Reprinted from Appletons’ Popular Science Monthly for June 1898.
The Man’s Knife Among the North American Indians: A study in the collections of the U.S. National Museum. Otis Tufton Mason. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1899.
A Fragment of Primitive Speech: A study of the roots of the language of the Nisga Indians of British Columbia. Rev. J.B. McCullagh. March 1916.
Religion and Family Among the Haidas (Queen Charlotte Islands). Rev. Charles Harrison. London: Harrison and Sons, 1891.
The New Era (2 editions) :
The Whale House of the Chilkat. George T. Emmons. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XIX, Part I. New York: 1916.
The Letter Leaflet. Vol. XVIX, No. 4. February 1908. The Organ of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada
A Sketch of the Social Organization of the Nass River Indians. Edward Sapir. Museum Bulletin No. 19: Anthropological Series, No. 7. October 15, 1915. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1915.
The Archdeacon W.H. Collison fonds consists of textual materials, maps, published materials and photographs all documenting Collison’s life and work with North Coastal First Nations communities in British Columbia. Types of records found within this fonds include manuscripts, sermon notes, correspondence, oral history summaries, monographs, cartographic items, photographs and postcards. The Collison fonds also includes some records created by his children and grandchildren as well as a family tree created in 1986. The Collison fonds has been divided into four series.
Collison, W.H. (Archdeacon)North British Columbia News with which is incorporated Aiyansh Notes (2 editions):
The Caledonia Interchange, No. 5, Oct. 31, 1900.
S. Barnabas’ Hove Parish Magazine. March 1902.
"The Kitselas of British Columbia." George T. Emmons. Reprint from the American Anthropologist (N.S.) Vol. XIV, No. 3, July-September, 1912. Signed by author.
"The Geography of the Tsimshian Indians." G.A. Dorsey. Reprint from The American Antiquarian, October 1897.
The Languages of the Pacific. J. MacMillan Brown. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1920.
"North Pacific Mission" chapter from an unidentified book. (pages 219 – 224)
Haida Grammar. Reverend C. Harrison. From the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Volume I, Section II: 1895.
Report of Conferences Between the Provincial Government and Indian Delegates from Fort Simpson and Nass River. British Columbia. February 1887.
A monthly journal published by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) featuring the work of CMS missionaries around the world.
The Church Missionary Intelligencer. New Series. 1 September 1873
A monthly journal published by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) featuring the work of CMS missionaries around the world. Note: pages 315-320 are missing.